Thursday, March 31, 2005

Picked up the safety pins I need to complete the 'Sesame Street' set (30 consecutive works) for the gallery show. I'm going to attach the crayons and add the card fasceners. I do hope these all find their way to the show. I am considering getting a return address ink stamp... we'll see.Will be ready to move onto the "Coca-Cola Classic/Coca-Cola Diet Can Correspondence with Limes". Tonight I will coat the works with their first coat of materials. Then I will paint things out white on each and finally poly actual lime slices onto the flat surface of the cards face. I can't wait to add the limes... should be really fun. —Will post a picture of a'Sesame Street' piece later.—

Saturday, March 26, 2005

Friday, March 25, 2005

Yesterday I hit up as many people as I could to get old issues of Playboy magazine... I need the centerfolds for postal and paintings projects. So far today less than 24 hours after asking I've been given around 40 back issues of the magazine. Thank you Jackson and Reilly... you will both be rewarded.—Went to Kankas last night to begin work on yet another set of correspondences for the upcoming gallery show. I have to say the 2 works I began last night are absolutely amazing. I took 2 large cardboard corner braces (the kind used for shipping) and covered the front sides with 1/4" strips of Playboy centerfolds — over 100 hand-laid strips to be exact on each. Each corner brace is 35" tall and 8" in width. However each brace is folded in half on a 90° angle to form a corner 4"x4". The brilliance of the works is in the relationship between the materials and that fold - that 'centerfold'. These works are in fact called 'Centerfolds' and feature 2 centerfold girls 1/4" cut and stacked in alternating order, there are 2 centerfolds on each side. Last night I completed the 2 outer sides of both corner braces. One with Miss August/Miss August and the other with Miss January/Miss February. I plan on completing the insides this evening. Postage and address will be placed on the bottom right edge. I am somewhat concernered about how I will get these into the postal system... but as with the theme of my works for this show the challenge, for this set, is less about the correspondence making it once it's in the USPS hands. The challenge is getting the USPS to ship them unwrapped and naked. Very exciting... I will post pictures this weekend after I weight them and figure postal rates.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Mailroom dropped off my stack of Robert Blake cards this morning... some of the address labels were starting to peel because of the humidity, so I am affixing new ones and taking them to the post office. I'm thru sending things thru my mailroom. For starters I sent the Blake cards on friday. Why did it take until today for them to bring them back (thats unacceptable... and I let them know it too). Secondly Barker has informed me that most of my correspondences to him (some 75%) have not had their stamps hand canceled which is the the entire purpose of mailing them in the first place. Stupid mail room... I'm never using you idiots again. Going have to use the lunch hour every day to hit the post office. So for everyone who has asked me where are the Blakes... well they are being sent today.—Just recieved 2 new books that I've been waiting on for a while today. Dieter Roth: Books + Multiples which is one of three large retropective books put out by the Dieter Roth Foundation (it was the last one I needed) the other two volumes are Graphic Works and Unique Pieces. The other book I recieved today is Ray Johnson: I Am So Sad Today which features page after page of his hand typed letters (full size) and other various correspondences. This book is more about his writings than his paintings, even though it does have a healthy share of color plates in the back. Can't wait to dig into these books.—Finished up a set of 5 new cards for Barker tonight. They are nasty, nasty, nasty. Also worked on the Zimmerman correspondences... they are going to be really cool... I think that tomm. night I'll be able to finish up a few of them and be able to send them out end of this week and the following. Zimmerman sent me a really cool set of balsa wood postcards a day ago... they are really awsome. I was just upset that she sent all 4 on the same day. I think the messaging would have been more impactful if I had to wait on it. Anyways, I was really excited when I pulled them out of my box.... they totally rock.Talked with Barker tonight, he clarified the concept of his gallery series for me — Under the Influence. Yup I knew it was something like that. They are gonna rock.Figured out how the 'Frosted Flake' correspondences will work. I'm going to attach with string the following components.

I'm not sure how the hell I'm going to send this monstrosity yet, but I'll figure it out this weekend. It will be rancid as all hell... I can't wait. Ohh yeah Barker also reminded me that the theme for this gallery show is “Cards From Beyond The Edge”... as Barker said... 'Man they don't know what they are getting themselves into.'.... and how!

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Talked with Barker last night... his correspondences are having something to do with excess/indulgence or something like that. I'll have to reclairify that here after I talk with him again, don't want to mis-state him. But what he is doing is multiples of the work or creating 2 identical correspondences, which I think is really clever. One he is sending to the gallery and the other to me. I'm really excited to see what he does - the materials he is using and especially what he writes. His stuff is always so so good. I'm not able to work on my gallery cards tonight... I just can't get in the zone. So instead I'm going to organize my future mailings and see what kind of postage and address label I need to create for them.—Ended up creating a set of 3 'Variant' correspondences for Kanka tonight... I think he'll like them. Also started to do 2 more cards for the gallery show on the backs of tiny Frosted Flake boxes. however i'm still not sure what the hook will be with these. If i can't tie them in i'll mail them to someone else.

Monday, March 21, 2005

Felt like crap today... my eyes are killing me so i stayed home. Was up all night because I couldn't sleep, so I slept in late today - 2PM. Finished making all of the 'Sesame Street' correspondences, but only the base level of them. I went out to grab a bite to eat with Kanka around 7PM and figured out the solution to these correspondences. Since part of these cards features cut and reassembled coloring book pages I'm going to attach a crayon via a string to each card. I'm not sure if these will make it throught the postal system, but thats the fun of it all isn't it. One of four things will probably happen:

1. The correspondence will arrive unscathed2. The crayons string will be severed and only the card will arrive3. The entire corresspondence - crayon included - will be placed into a bag (this has happened before)4. Nothing will arrive at all

I'm excited about these possibilities... I think the theme of my cards is starting to show itself... complication, chance & challenge. All of these correspondences are going to be trouble... I'd be extremely pleased if nothing showed up, because then that would be the work. That would rock. I'm definitly going to try and do the baged air correspondences. Initially I had a dilema as to whether place postage on the outside of the bag or on the inside card. Now the answer is evident. It has to be on the inside. This again will complicate things. Heres what could happen:

1. The correspondence will arrive untscathed with hand canceled on the outside of the bag2. The correspondence will arrive untscathed with no hand cancelation3. The bag will be popped, discarded and only the card will arrive hand canceled4. The bag will be popped and placed with the card into a bag4. Nothing will arrive at all

Now I just need to figure out what to do with the white coke sign correspondences.

Sunday, March 20, 2005

Ended up drinking at the Earl with the Vinsons till about 2AM last night. It was really good seeing them again... plan on it more often. As usual the Vinsons were chock-full of great stories. I wrote several things down, but looking back at them this morning, nothing really seems to strike me as something I want to attempt for this show. I grabbed a bunch of old Sesame Street childrens books from my archives and started shreading them and reassembling them onto 30 — 4"x7" cards. I'm going to try and get both sides totally covered and then see how I want to proceed from there. I pulled out an old plastic coke sign Kanka had handed me a few years back from R.A. Millers yard. Kanka said here make something out of this... well I am finally. Cut the thin banner into 7 — 5"x8" cards. These things are filthy... going to put a coat of clear spraypaint onto them to seal in the dirty goodness. not sure what I'm going to do to them yet, but these will be another set of cards to send to the show. I'm also toying with the idea of sending them some postcards that are in sealed bags filled with air. The same kinda thing you see used in packaging now-a-days. Have to figure out a good system of making these though.Not going to bug Barker today because I know he too is busily cranking out postcards as well. I'll call him this next week to see how he is doing. I don't think I'm going to be able to get cards out this coming week. I'm gonna plan to finish the bulk of the cards during the week and begin mailing them in mass monday the 28th.

Saturday, March 19, 2005

Spent most of the morning working on postcards for a gallery show Barker and I are entering out of Dallas. Show opens May 14... yeah road trip. Barker figured we had a window of 30 days to mail materials to the show before dealine. So that basiclly means one correspondence a day monday — saturday for 5 weeks. I started pulling out materials this morning and spread them all over my floor... but I'm at a lose for what to do.Mr. Vinson wrote me this morning... he recieved the 'Love Foiled' mass correspondence today and was the first to reply. As a reward, as I had planned he will recieve the original painted comic. Yeah for him. I'm going to go out for drinks with them later tonight... should be really fun. I haven't seen the Vinsons in a while. Hopefully I'll be able to come up with some good ideas for this gallery show. I'm sure something will hit me later tonight.

Friday, March 18, 2005

Very Excited... today I send mail off to my new european correspondences, both live in Prague, Czech Republic. Postage for Europe is $1 for postcards. I'm interested to see, how they react and see what I will get in return. Both contacts were given to me by Kanka... he assures me that i will defiantly get something back from Drozds, he's done correspondence and mail art before.Hung out at Kankas loft last night and was able to pump out about 40 postcards. Finished a brilliant set for my main correspondent and postal lover Barker. Then got some postcards started for my new european correspondences... I'm really excited how these are going to turn out. Should have them completed by the weekend.I will post a revised correspondence list later today.

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Started reading Hermann Hesse's 'Steppenwolf' last night around midnight and found myself at page 184 a few hours later had to finally put it down so i could get some semblance of sleep. I think I'll have it finished in the next day... what a great book. Kanka gave it to me for my birthday. After I finish it I'm going to start reading the Marc Eliot's new bio book on my hero Cary Grant... I'm really excited about this one. I've been struggling to do a few sets of work on grant but just can't find the right footing to start it. Hopefully this will help. Also picked up along with my new Cary grant book, Patrick McGilligan's 'Alfred Hitchcock : A Life in Darkness and Light'.... should also be a good read (Hitch is the greatest director of all time.. we should clone him).Also just finished reading John Gribbin's 'In Search of Schrodinger's Cat: Quantum Physics And Reality' and am going to move on to another work of his called 'Schrodinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality: Solving the Quantum Mysteries'. I really like Gribbin's books, he has a way of dealing with extremely complex ideas in a matter-of-fact kind'a way. There is a hell of a lot of math involved with these books... so I'm having to teach myself algebra, geometry, calculus, and trigonometry (should have paid more attention in high school). This is all working out extremely well for me though. I have been trapped working on the '100 Small Works' series 'Hot, Young, and Eager on 25¢ a Day' for well over a year now. Concepts from quantum theory as well as several sets of number theories I've been working with, are all being utilized in these works are finally starting to make sense and a chaotic pattern is finally beginning to take shape. Just as I had hoped for. It'll be another year before I finish the works due to their intense detail... plus i have to make a trip to Vegas with them to put on the final touches.Plan on going over to Kanka's tonight to have a Patties Day drink... no bars far me. To many wacko Jacko's around... plus days like these are as my father always says 'amateur night'... I'd have to agree.—Just created a small set of postcards to mail to a select few... Robert Blake victory correspondences. I'm really happy with them... hope all who recieve one enjoy. I'll be mailing them tomm.

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

No postcards from Barker today, but I did recieve a new postcard from Kanka... good stuff — white spider on blue background. I was totally caught off gaurd when i p[ulled it out of the mail box. Kanka came over around 7pm to watch the Ray Johnson documentary (that he didn't get to see yet) and see the new South Park.... god damn hippies. We kept laffing our asses of during the Johnson documentary every time Norman Solomon was being interviewed. That man has the strangest interviewing style and the best dead pan look ever... very creepy. After Kanka left I worked on a new set of correspondences for Barker. A little something old/something new kinda deal. I have been holding off on these ones because I wasn't sure how to approach them, but last night I decided to dive head first right into them.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Still can’t get a damn thing to post on this site outside of my headlines which makes it look like I haven’t written a damn thing. I think tomorrow they are gonna release the Blake verdict... I got hint of it off of some web blog out there. Man if they convict him that will be fucked up — especially considering how much of a fucked up bitch his wife was. She was a total scumbag. I support you Robert.Forgot again today to bring my mailings with me... another late night of reading. Lots of reading and research.—Worked on some of Barkers postcards earlier this evening and made some headway earlier today on the Kanková cards. Since I was so facinated with Jackson yesterday i decided to send her a nice set of Jacko cards. They are gonna be really cool... but I'm sure she'll be like what the hell are these all about. Gonna get back and do a few more cards for Barker and then hit the books again.

Monday, March 14, 2005

Looks like Jackson is going to get off... again. Opps did I say get off... ha.Neglected to bring mailings with me this morning... had a late start this morning and a later night. Stayed up till 4 finishing up a book on physics and diving into several articles in the latest Modern Painters. Hirst is on the cover... I'd love to take a trip up to NYC and see his new paintings at the Gagosian. I was really surprised to see he went to painting until i read an interview where he explained his theory of paining.______

Interviewer: But why, in 2005, go back to oil paint? What makes this old technology worth using now?

Hirst: I decided recently that, in a way, all painting is sculpture. I've just bought a John Currin, and looking at it, I decided that layer of paint on the surface is just the same as an object in the room. You know - the deliciousness of it, the thing that makes you love the painting, is a physical thing, the building up of layers. You want to eat it...

Interviewer: The thickness of the paint also makes it optically different from a photographic print. The light passes through it and comes back.

Hirst: It's odd, especially oil paint. Crazy stuff. When we were painting the blood on those blood images I wanted the paint to pour a bit: when there's a connection between the material and the object you're representing, it's believable. Whereas if it's just like a photograph, it seems not to work.______

No wonder so many people hate him... he's a genius. People are always saying he's no better than Jeff Koons. Just another salesman and sellout. Fuck that noise. Outside of never meeting the man, I've read almost every interview ever published on the guy and own several of his gallery catalogues and artists books. The man knows what he's talking about and beyond that, he knows what he wants and how to do it. How many modern day artists can say that. Beside Koons is a hack. SNORE

Sunday, March 13, 2005

The website I publish this blog thru is really screwed up today. It doesn't want to publish my posts... so like before I'm haveing to type these damn things somewhere else and wait till this site gets fixed to post them. GRRRRHung out at Kankas new place again today and utilized his huge front porch to go crazy with the Super 77. Built out something like 30 more correspondene for Barker. Starting to mix things up now... I suspect he's tired of getting the same thing everyday even though there is an interesting plot unfolding with the 'Omitted jughead' set. However I'll be pulling the plug on thos very soon. 25 will be the last 'Omitted' for a good while... have a stack of materials to send him about one foot tall and several other interesting tid-bits on the way. Barker is really close to getting to 100 correspondence sent to me... he's in the 80's right now. I think he'll hit the 100 spot before the end of the month. We need to figure out a smart way of showing stuff at HOW Conference... plus start deveoping leads for the show we'll do.Kanka provided me with 2 addresses to correspond with from the Czech Republic _ his sister Kanková and a friend of his Drozds. I'm going to have to come up with some clever things to mail these folks. Postcard postage overseas is $1 — so I better make them good.

Saturday, March 12, 2005

Nothing to interesting to report today. I slept in really really late 4:00pm and then piddled around a cleaned house and reordered my studio space. Worked on some more correspondences for differnt people. Almost wrapped up with a small set of correspondences for Newman which i think he'll really enjoy. Also put in some work for some new shit for Kanka.

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Hung out at Kanka's last night and glued together about 50 new postcards for Barker. Kanka made fun of me... he said something like 'You disgust me... you make like 50 things in no time.. you are crazy production line. Your own factory.' Something like that. He had a irritated look on his face... so we had another drink.

Have Barkers new postcards all layed out on the floor... gonna start diggin into them tonight. Lots of pretty colors I'm thinking... err maybe just Liquitex Acrylic: Brilliant Blue. Also printed the final component for the mass Valentines correspoindences this afternoon. I spent a few minutes reformating them. THEY WILL FINALLY GO OUT THIS WEEK... I think however I will get them postmarked on the Monday the 14th... just for laffs. February is my month sucka'.Time to get to work... more to come. — 6:45PM

Found a brilliant transition from red to blue via the editors office and a sonnet to a tiger lily! Really I did... HA! I love chaos... it always works if you look for it. Barkers 'Omitted Jugheads' are now 25 strong. Yippie for omittion for omittions sake. — 12:34AM

Sunday, March 06, 2005

Painted more Barker correspondences today. More 'Omitted Jugheads' but now with a fun twist. A little bit of warmth to them. I have a theory that if - what is produced by my art is a reflection of my life... then what I place into the art should equaly influence the life it's supposed to imitate. Right...? Hmmmm...? I think it's just a project to see if by putting the idea of women and sex into my art, will they suddenly appear... if not to fullfill the works power then to facilitate the works continued theory and practice... a little theory of all things and pussy perhaps. — and hmmm....

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

FACE EXPERIMENT 02—Found 'Coca-Cola Classic with Lime' today..... it's new (we in Atlanta get all of Coke's little experiments before anyone else). Drinkin' this 'lime devil water' to death. Got an exquisite corpse from Barker via Kanon today. Going to get started on it and send it out in the morning.